Detroit Tigers lose 3-2 to Oakland Athletics, now 4-16 in September

Free Press sports writers Anthony Fenech describes how Matthew Boyd's development this season led up to his near historic start, plus Brad Ausmus' reaction to being asked about Nick Castellanos in rightfield for the end of that game.

Salute Sanchie: Anibal Sanchez pitched one of his best games of the season in what may have been his last start wearing the old English D at Comerica Park.

Sanchez struck out the first two batters he faced and four over the first two innings. But he gave up back-to-back doubles in the third, to No.9 hitter Bruce Maxwell and Semien.
Semien added a two-run home run in the seventh off lefty Daniel Stumpf to give the A’s a three-run cushion.

Sanchez allowed one run on three hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out eight. Sanchez has allowed two runs on nine hits over his last 12 innings and has 19 strikeouts in that span.

Nick’s knack: Nick Castellanos extended his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games with a single in the sixth. Castellanos lined out to center in the first inning and flied out to right in the third.

He led off the bottom of the sixth with a line-drive single to left for the Tigers. Castellanos has the longest active hitting streak in the majors and the longest by a Tigers player this season.

A-plus: Right-handed pitcher Daniel Mengden allowed seven hits over seven scoreless innings for the Athletics in his first career start against the Tigers. He didn’t allow a walk and struck out four. He threw 106 pitches, 67 for strikes.

Never surrender: The Tigers had runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, down 3-0. Efren Navarro led off with a walk and Mikie Mahtook doubled to left. Tyler Collins pinch-hit for John Hicks and struck out swinging at a slider from Ryan Dull. Andrew Romine hit a two-run single to right. Liam Hendricks replaced Dull and got Jose Iglesias to ground into a force at short. Romine went to second on a wild pitch, before Alex Presley struck out swinging to end the game.

Hit parade: Each of the first five hitters for the Tigers had hits against the A’s. Second baseman Ian Kinsler had the day off, after slugging his 20th home run of the season in the 9-8 loss to the A’s on Tuesday. Presley batted leadoff instead and finished 1-for-5 for the Tigers. Jeimer Candelario batted second and hit a double in the first and a single in the fifth and finished 2-for-4. Miguel Cabrera, who was the DH, finished 1-for-4.